Sunday, November 29, 2009

You know how you have one of those days when you rush to get to an appointment only to find out that you got the times mixed up and are actually early? So now you have time to kill and then you realize that you're also hungry? What's a girl to do, except look for some place to have lunch, so I decide to take a drive and tell myself to stop at the first place that looks interesting. I'm cruising down Santa Monica Boulevard and of course, a small Guatemalan restaurant with a red facade catches my eye and I proceed to drive right past it. Unfortunately, the street was pretty busy, so it took me awhile, but I managed to do a U Turn and was soon on my way back.

Part of the appeal of this restaurant laid in the fact that I've never had Guatemalan food before and feeling a little adventurous decided that day was the day to check it out. Walking in, I noticed that this was indeed a small hole in the wall restaurant with only about 6 tables in the space. The menu was also quite limited, so I just asked the Owner for a recommendation. One dish she mentioned was a stew, but the weather was just too warm for that, so I went for her other suggestion, the Chili Relleno Plate. While waiting for my food arrive, I tried one of their Guatemalan Soft Drinks. The company is Tiky and I went for the pina flavor. Two words. Super Sweet. Letting the ice melt actually helped a little bit.

The tortillas arrived first. and I loved how thick and pillowy they were. If I had some butter, I could have just eaten them on their own.

Finally, my Chili Relleno Plate arrived. Now with this dish, it comes with black beans, sour cream and rice and your choice of 1 of 2 different salads. I had asked if I could have a small portion of each salad and the Owner was fine with my request.

Since I'm not familiar with the Guatemalan cuisine, I was surprised at some of the foods that were served. One of the side salads was Pickled Cabbage, Beets and Carrots, which I absolutely enjoyed, but it's a dish that seemed to me, more Eastern Enropean in nature.

The other salad option was a mayonnaise-based Beans, Carrots an Potato Salad. First, I've never had green beans as part of a potato salad before, let alone carrots, but in general, I wouldn't think to associate mayonnaise with South American or Central American cooking. So if anyone has information on how these two particular salads would have made it in a Guatemalan restaurant, I'd love to know. As for the salad itself, it was tasty.

I absolutely fell in love with the side of black beans that came with the Chili Relleno. The best way I could describe it is that the texture was silky smooth and it had a sweet-earthiness to it that I really enjoyed.

As for the Chili Relleno itself, it was killer, except for one little thing. I've only had Mexican chili relleo dishes where the peppers were usually poblano peppers. For this Guatemalan version, a sweet red pepper was used instead and its filling consisted of ground pork, beans and carrots. One thing I found interesting was that though this pepper was deep fried, it was soft.

I'm not sure if these were prepared ahead of time and just heated or it's just the nature of this particular pepper to have a softer texture or maybe, the particular vegetables used for the fillings are more watery in nature. I don't really know. Although I would have liked a firmer pepper, I still absolutely enjoyed this Chili Relleno. It was hearty and the sweetness of the pepper really went well with the sweetness of the carrots. I also liked the addition of the green beans and overall, this could have been a meat intensive dish, but the veggies added a nice texture and balance.

I was pretty full by this time and wasn't sure if I could fit in dessert but once the Rellenito was described to me, my wall of resistance came tumbling down. Not that the wall was that strong in the first place. Simply, the Rellenito is a plantain stuffed with black beans, deep fried and than sprinkled with a little sugar. Now who could say no to that? I certainly didn't. It was a perfect end to the meal. Sweet, but not too sweet and not too greasy either, considering the plantain was deep fried.

Overall, Cafe Antigua Guatemala was a wonderful find and with the weather getting cooler, I look forward to returning and trying out the pepian stew recommended by the Owner. So if you're driving along Santa Monica Boulevard, Cafe Antigua Guatemala is definitely worth a stop for a delicious meal.

If you know the Los Angeles dining scene and/or a fan of the Top Chef Show, you've more than likely heard of Chef Michael Voltaggio. After weeks of competition, he's currently part of the final four contestants which includes his brother, Chef Bryan Voltaggio. The finale hasn't aired yet, so we are all waiting with bated breath to see who's going to end up on top, but before becoming a part of the reality tv world, Chef Voltaggio was Executive Chef of the Bazaar and is now the current Chef de Cuisine in the Dining Room at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena.

Last August, I was invited to check out Chef Voltaggio's food via a Media Dinner hosted by the Langham Hotel in Pasadena and put together by their PR company, Weber Shandwick. At the time, Top Chef hadn't aired yet, so I really didn't know what to expect. Once we were all served the amuse bouche, which was Blue Fin, Hibiscus Air and Porcini Mushroom, I knew it was going to be an interesting meal. Each course was paired with wine, except for one that was paired with beer. Since I'm not much of a drinker, while I will tell you what the pairings are, I'm going to focus just on the food.

After our amuse bouche, which had subtle tart and earthy flavors, we went straight into our first course which was the Pacific Yellowtail, Sashimi Style with Compressed Soy-Watermelon, Sea Sponge and Smoked Egg Yolk. It was paired with a glass of 2008 Crios de Susana Balbo, Torrontes, Cafayate. The yellowtail was wonderfully fresh and I liked how the sweetness of the watermelon played against the smokiness of the smoky egg yolk puree.

Our second course was an Octopus dish and was paired with a 2005 Peter Howland Maxwell Vineyard Chardonnay. The octopus itself was a little chewier than I would have liked but it came with some very interesting ingredients. First, it sat on a buttered popcorn puree and than it was topped with a Piquillo Confetti and Cilantro. I wasn't too sure about the popcorn puree, but I loved it. The saltiness of it went well with the tartness of the piquillo and the spiciness of the Cilantro. By the way, the piquillo confetti had the texture of a fruit roll up.

The Pastrami Pigeon with a Rye-Infused Jus, Brussels-Kraut and Puffed Gruyere Cheese was our third course. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite dish of the entire meal. I enjoyed the light crispiness of the puffed gruyere cheese, but I found the pigeon too gamey for my taste. As for the pairing, it was matched up with a Unibroue 17 Strong Dark Ale. This was the one course that the only way I could tolerate this dish was when it was washed down with a sip or two of the ale.

My favorite course of the night was the Turbot and the ingredients of this dish included Artichoke, Tomato Granola with Olive Oil and Champagne Vinegar. It was paired with 2007 Saleway Henkenberg GG Pinot Noir. This was the only dish that was modified from the printed menu. Originally, the dish was flavored with lime and vanilla, but was replaced by olive oil and champagne vinegar. The flavors were subtle, but I really liked the delicate, mildness of the fish and the grainy texture and tartness of the tomato granola.

Next was the Suckling Pig with Pistachio Beans, Onions and an Orange Juice and Coriander Reduction. The pork was sous vide in duck fat for 40 hours, which made it quite tender and I really liked dipping it into the OJ and Coriander Reduction which added a nice spiced citrusy flavor to the meat. Paired with the Suckling Pig was the 2000 August Kesseler Pinot Noir.

The last savory dish of the evening was the Lamb Confit which had Lamb as well the Pickled Tongue with Vadouvan, an Eggplant-Raisin Puree and Fresh Hummus. This dish didn't really make an impression on me, good or bad, so I don't have much to say about it and unfortunately, my photo of it came off quite blurry, too. It was paired with a 2006 Villa Creek Avenger Syrah/Mourvedre/Grenache.

Next came dessert and the first to arrive was a dessert amuse bouche which was a Jasmine Rice Sorbet with Sake Gelatin. This dessert was a total hit with me. It was cool and refreshing and after all the meat in the previous courses, it was nice to have something light.

The last course was Chef Voltaggio's take on Coffee Cake and consisted of Baked Honey, Espresso Mousse, which was made with liquid nitrogen and Lemon Curd. That baked honey was really awesome and was like a thin wafer. What I liked was that the Espresso Mousse wasn't that sweet, but got its sweetness when it was eaten with the baked honey.

We thought our meal was over until we were served one last treat, a plate that included Chocolate Bark with Pop Rocks and Passion Fruit Gelees. I wasn't sure if I had room but the little kid in me couldn't resist Pop Rocks and Chocolate.

Overall, except for one miss and one so-so dish, I really enjoyed Chef Voltaggio's food at the Dining Room. Since this meal, I've been avidly watching him on Top Chef and have found him to be crazily creative when it comes to his food. I certainly got a preview of that from this particular meal. Come on. Butter Popcorn Puree? Tomato Granola? You'd have to have an interesting culinary mind to come up with that kind of stuff. Based on this meal and what I've seen from this show, I am definitely looking forward to enjoying even more of his food in the future.

For those of you who have yet to visit the Dining Room, you may want do so soon. They will be closing for renovation in January 2010, so you may not have very many opportunities left to enjoy Chef Voltaggio's cooking at least at the Dining Room.

One major perk of living in the San Gabriel Valley is the sheer availability of Chinese restaurants representing various regional Chinese cooking. I've eaten my way through Shanghainese, Sczechwan, Cantonese, Yunnan foods and more. For one particular outing, I took my dining group to Henyang Chili King to check out Hunan Cuisine. My last experience with Hunan food was at Hunan Seafood Restaurant in Rosemead, which definitely had its hits and misses, so I was looking forward to what this other restaurant would bring to the table. Literally! To learn more about Hunan Cuisine in general, click here and click here for more info.

I first found out about Henyang Chili King from a Jonathan Gold article, so I based our menu around the dishes he highlighted. Since then, I also came upon a blog posting by Sinsoul and wished that I was able to incorporate some of his mentions as well, but that'll just have to be for a return visit. Anyway, to start our meal, we were served a complementary appetizer of boiled peanuts and pickled veggies. It was nice to start off with something with more neutral flavors, especially since Hunan cuisine is known for its bold flavors.

My group shared a total of 11 dishes that evening, but considering that there's over 170 dishes to choose from on the menu, we only had a small fraction of what was offered. The first plate to land on our table was the cauliflower cooked in “pork oil” and crunchy lardons, which are basically cubed pork. Cauliflower is a bland vegetable on its own, but in this dish, it absorbed a lot of porky goodness from the oil and was simply irresistible.

Following the Cauliflower came the Cumin Lamb. The meat was tender and the flavors of the cumin, the garlic and the cilantro came together and danced on your taste buds.

Arriving with the Cumin Lamb was the Bangly with Chicken dish. Bangly refers to chestnuts. This particular item had a brown sauce that had a hint of sweetness to it and went perfectly with the slight, starchy sweetness of the chestnuts. Also, if you have one or two people who can't handle spicy food, this is a good option to order for them.

Unfortunately, the Shredded Squid with Bamboo Shoots was disappointing. First, the dish name was off since the squid wasn't actually shredded and were more akin to chopped tentacles that seemed more octopus than squid-like. Also, those tentacles were very, very chewy. I don't mind mind a chewy texture, but that was just too much. Another thing to note was that while the bamboo shoots did make an experience, I think celery really was more present than the latter and in the end, the flavors were just really bland.

Flavor wasn't a problem with the Spicy Whole Fish that we had ordered. In fact, the sauce that was poured over the fish did have a fiery kick to it, which was balanced with a little sweetness and tasted quite nicely poured over some of my steamed rice. The only issue I had was the fish itself. It was really bony and was more bone than actual meat. Interestingly enough, this was the same problem I experienced at the last Hunan meal I had at Hunan Seafood Restaurant.

The Dried Cucumber tossed with shredded fresh shiso was solid and I appreciated the fact that cucumber itself weren't overcooked and still had a slight crunchy texture.

Both the Hot and Spicy Tofu and House Special Spicy Over Spicy dishes supplied a nice hit of heat to our palates, but I do have a question to those of you who have been to Henyang Chili King before. Do any of you actually know what type of meat was used in the House Special Spicy over Spicy dish? Although we ordered and enjoyed eating it, we weren't quite sure what we were eating at time. We tried asking our waitress, but her English was limited and she couldn't tell us. Ground pork and cubed pork was my best guess.

I was one of the few of my dining partners who enjoyed the Bitter Melon sauteed with Chinese sausage, but that can be attributed to my growing up eating this particular vegetable. However, I should mention that I would have liked the bitter melon to be a bit more bitter than it actually was, but if it was, that may have been an issue with the rest of the group.

The Sauteed Preserved Meat dish was okay. Not a fav, but not bad either. My only issue was that the preserved meat, which was pork, was a little too salty for me personally, but eating it with rice helped cut down that saltiness a bit.

Our final dish of the night was Stewed Wild Pumpkin. Although this dish was called Wild Pumpkin, I think it's actually more of a butternut squash. I liked the sweetness of the squash, but the entire dish was over cooked to the point of mushiness. Mushy is just not that appealing.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Henyang Chili King and for me, it's a much better Hunan restaurant option than the last one I went to. I would definitely make a return visit and considering that there are over 150 items still left on the menu to try, at least, I know there'll always be variety with every meal.

This Private Grand Opening Party was definitely a hot ticket, so for those of you who weren't lucky enough to get an invitation, I hope that you'll be able to live virtually through my experience via the photos I took of what turned out to be quite a noshing evening. Of course, the party started by walking through the Bouchon Bistro entrance, which was lit up red lights. See the photo lead to this story. Once inside, walk past the reception area and walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the 2nd floor. An elevator is also available for those who need one.

At the top of the stairs was a small reception area where glasses of champagne were freely being served, but what caught my eye was a large yellow spherical ice sculpture which was in a smaller room towards the back of the reception area. Of course, I had to investigate and lo and behold, I hit the caviar station and let me tell you, those caviar servings were more than generous.

It was hard to tear myself away from all that caviar and just as hard not to sneak one of those caviar tins into my purse, but somehow I prevailed and walked down this long hallway where there was wine storage area to the right of me past the bar and into the main dining room area.

Back to back were the Cured Meats, Pickled Veggies and Olives Station and the Cheese Station. My Filipino palate that loves sour flavors made a beeline for the thinly sliced prosciuitto and the olives first. After I finished off my little plate, I decided to hold off on cheese and instead, I sauntered over to the Raw Bar where oysters were being shucked and being served next to cold shrimp and mussels. One (or two) of each and I was now prepared for cheese.

The cheese selection was wonderful and plentiful. Being a Cheese Head, it was hard not to get a sample of each, but I had heard that there were also hors d'oeuvres being served in the kitchen, so I limited my choices. What I did have was pretty good and even more so, because a couple of them were paired with other foods.

Before I headed to the kitchen, I took a peek at one of their private dining rooms and took a couple of crowd shots.

The kitchen was long, narrow and there was food coming from both sides. It took me 2 passes but I managed to sample the butternut squash soup, the pork belly and arugula sandwich, the codfish fritter and a couple of other things.

By this time, I was ready for something sweet and I found it in the Dessert Station which was set up in another kitchen. I was already quite full, so although I would have loved to try each and every one of them, I limited myself to a chocolate macaroon, the fruit tart and one marshmallow-type tart.

My last stop for the evening was the Bakery. There was actual bread being baked when I walked in and the room smelled so good. On a long table, against the wall, were all these different types of bread stacked up like a pyramid. Apparently, they were all baked that day. While there, the Baker gave a lesson to one of the guests on how to prep the dough before it would be popped into the oven. As we walked out, all guests were given bread to take home.

It was definitely a fun evening of food and people watching, plus the nice gift bag we were all given was a nice treat. This was actually my first time experiencing any of Chef Keller's food and I'm definitely looking forward to a full sit down meal and getting the whole experience. Thanks again to Urban Spoon and PR Consulting. I definitely appreciated the chance to get a preview of what I know will be a Beverly Hills hot spot.

About Me

I'm a Dining Group Organizer and Food Blogger who has a passion for all things tasty and absolutely loves setting up culinary outings all over LA! If you'd like to contact me, my email address is abby@pleasurepalate.com.